Savage Mercies
by SkeeterBug
Summary: AU Season 4 DarkFic. 3 months have passed since the burning of the Dal and Bo's disappearance. Lauren and Kenzi's isolated search for her is complicated by their own changes, and a fight for survival against the dark fae headhunters sworn to return them to hands of the Morrigan. Bo struggles against the seduction of her awakened powers, as friend and foe battle for her very soul.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimers: The characters set forth in this story are owned by Prodigy Pictures, even though they would strongly implore the reader that no one owns them._**

**_A/N: Thanks for all the thoughts and feedback, I've planted a few single line lazy course corrections._**

**_Present Day _**

"Remind me to ask you later HOW exactly you learned to channel NASCAR into truck racing! I want top-shelf vodka, far FAR away from here!" The shouted words fell on deaf ears as the driver concentrated on maintaining an increased distance, the wind howling through the windows.

Tires worn to the bone skidded around on the washboard gravel road; the muffler hanging by a thread, sparking against the rocks. The engine heaved and roared; as Lauren shoved the gear back into third watching the RPMs hit the red line. Rifle shots rang out and flew by on the right as she slammed the wheel to the left, jostling Kenzi's shot, sending a slender cylinder tumbling out of the truck window.

"Fuck! Give me another one," the goth's voice choked out as the grit in the air bit her throat. Her gloved hands left the trucks' front window and reached backwards towards her driver, never taking her eyes of the black van in hot pursuit. Sweat and dirt coated the blonde's face as she shoved her aviator's up and looked down at the three remaining cylinders. With one hand on the wheel, she swerved the truck again right, barely avoiding a rivet in the road that would have flipped them.

High powered shots rang out again, this time smashing through the back window and flying into Kenzi's small shoulder. The impact pushed her backwards against the dash and spattered the windshield red. "Shit!" Lauren exclaimed, as she reached out her hand to steady the girl; Kenzi grunted in agony, a rush of Ukrainian explicative leaving her mouth as she leaned her head forward, her raven locks momentarily obscuring her face. Lauren gunned the engine and slammed it into fourth. Going this fast on these roads was suicide, but she had no choice.

Holding the wheel with her right hand, Lauren desperately lit the fuse on one of the canisters with her lighter, holding the flame close. When the small tendril caught, she grabbed it and blind backwards tossed it out the driver window. The truck lurched forward as the ensuing explosion rocked it a mere two seconds later. Gripping the wheel tight, she brought the car back under control, the smell of gunpowder and cordite strong and overpowering. The blonde looked in her side mirror to see the black van bursting through the explosive fumes and smoke. They were gaining. Her hands started to shake.

"Kenzi! Kenzi can you hear me!" she shouted. The brown eyes found the blue, full of pain. Blood was seeping through the girl's denim jacket and down her hand, dripping on the seat.

"It's sokay, doc. Just a little flesh wound," the girl hissed out. Kenzi leaned over to Lauren's seat to touch the blonde's face. "It'll probably heal up better than that one", she said tracing the flesh colored scar that puckered in places and ran down the doctor's cheekbone.

Lauren flinched minutely at the touch. A pained smile graced her face as she shook her head and shoved another cylinder into Kenzi's good hand. Never taking her eyes off the road, she spotted the tree line up ahead. Looked like one of the old forest roads, one that was once used for access to logging, barricaded with massive trunks and a sign that indicated closure.

"End of the line, Kenzi. Make this shot count, 'cause I am running out of road."

Snorting a laugh back, Kenzi pulled forward and flipped around again with her back to the dash. "Lefty throws suck," she explained as her eyes narrowed. Just as her breathing focused and slowed, her eyes turned a soft, glowing violet. The pupils that were once human and round, shrank slowly into catlike slits as her face elongated a bit into something infinitely more feral; something that screamed hunter.

Kenzi breathed on the fuse, lighting the explosive cocktail and the sound of a contented purr lined her throat as she smiled. Raising her good arm up and out she unerringly threw right at the van's windshield, roughly two car lengths behind.

The explosive concussion was much closer this time and tore through the back end of the truck, launching them forward. Lauren grunted hard as she slammed on the brakes and rocked with the wheel, trying to maintain control against the push of the uncontrolled fireball behind them. Her ears ringing and acutely in pain, Kenzi looked up through the spider cracks of the shattered rear window to watch a secondary explosion as the gas tank lit the rest of the van up , the back half tossed high into the air. Shards of fiery debris hit the roof truck with loud thwacking noises and Lauren ducked instinctively.

"Hasta la vista, you dark fae fucks," Kenzi shouted back towards the flame consumed van.

Shuddering breaths clawed at her chest, as her face reverted slowly back into human form, although her eyes remained a different shade of vivid purple. Clutching her wounded shoulder she glanced sideways at her companion, who had opened the truck door and was clambering out of the vehicle, tranq gun in hand.

"Dude, we just blew them up and you wanna make sure they are SLEEPING?" the dark haired girl questioned incredulously as she busted open her door and leapt light footed to the ground.

Lauren shook the dust from her black leather jacket and flipped the safety on the weapon, planting her hand on the truck bed's edge. Her mouth quirked upwards and then formed a hard thin line, the question unanswered. There were many things that had been forever altered in the course of three months. Three months of endurance that had changed her landscape irrevocably. But the one thing that would never, ever change was her dedication to life. If there was a chance at not killing, she would seek it out. Death was their way. Feeding and discarding. It would never be hers if she could help it. When she couldn't, well….then she paid.

She quickly strode over to Kenzi's side of the vehicle around the front, pulling the smaller woman with her. The doctor made a quick field assessment of the wound as she pulled the raven haired girl's hand away, peeling back the shirt. The girl hissed at the intrusion but gave no complaint. "Looks like it missed the artery. You are lucky," Lauren quietly stated as she bent to shred pieces of cloth from Kenzi's ensemble.

"I've always been an artful dodger," the goth girl's eyebrows wiggled in time with her words, even as her eye color flared a darker purple, before reverting back to stunning shades of ice blue. Hissing, she leaned back against the hood of the truck.

Balling up the material she stripped from the clothing, Lauren pressed it to Kenzi's shoulder. "Hold here and press firmly. I'll be right back. I'm going to make sure we don't have anyone else wanting to take potshots at us."

"No way! I'm coming with you," Kenzi vehemently stated. "I can help." Frowning at her, Lauren said nothing but nodded her assent.

From Lauren's view, the van was a massive burning wreck, flipped on its back like a dying beetle, lost in a sea of heat and smoke. If an ordinary human like her had been in there, they would have been very crispy, and VERY dead. But these were not ordinary people they were dealing with. They were fae. And some fae were stronger and more resilient than others.

Striding 20 yards from the burning mass, Lauren slowly circled the van, Kenzi took the opposite direction.

As if on cue, the back doors burst open from the flaming hulk, and a scream of fury ignited the air. There stood a humanoid figure, hell bent on running through the flames, arms outstretched, eyes mirroring the fire. Lauren fired off a tranq round straight into its chest but it didn't faze the fae as the momentum carried him straight into Lauren's body, knocking her flat, searing her jacket's sleeves.

Kenzi leaped an inhuman distance and dug her hands into his arms, ferociously clinging to his back. The fae let out a cry and tried his best to shake her off. Quickly reaching up, fingernails curving into sharp long claws, the feral girl crowed victory and dug in, pinning the arms back long enough for Lauren to get a second shot in. This time, the fae dropped to his knees, eyes dimming and rolling back in his head. As his body hit the ground, Kenzi withdrew, panting from her exertions, hands burning from the contact. She looked at the disheveled doctor, begging for the permission she knew she desperately needed. She couldn't ask.

She would never ask.

After checking over the rest of the van, confident they were dealing with no one else; Lauren knelt down near Kenzi's side, and lifted the fae's wrist. "Slowly, Kenzi. Too much will kill him. I'm here if you go too far. Are you ready?"

The girl nodded and Lauren took a small pocket knife from her boot and cut a line on the fae's arm, enough to release a small stream of crimson. Kenzi held it to her lips and lapped up the sickeningly sweet life blood. Pulling more from the fae, she clung to his arm, devouring every single drop. She could feel the wound in her shoulder start to close, the searing heat from her hands fading. But the deeper ache remained. Hollowed and worn, Kenzi couldn't tell the difference between feeding and the broken desire of something close but other…. she started to draw more and more. She could hear words being spoken, but lost in her hunger, she neither understood nor headed.

A slap to the face, Kenzi dropped her lifeline, teeth bared as Lauren pushed her away forcefully from the unconscious body. "Kenzi! Enough! Stop! It's too much." The doctor's hands were held out in a gesture of wary caution, eyes pleading. Lauren could see the effort it took to reign in the deep change that had brought her young friend low. Reluctantly, Kenzi looked up and met the doctor's gaze. With a shudder, she stood up, shaking with the effects of the feed. It felt like heroin, smooth as silk with a hint of euphoria. But it was a poor substitute for what she really craved, what she made her shake with need, what drew her to Lauren for safety time and again. What the druid took in his trade. Blocking out the drowning guilt, Kenzi pulled at her arm, marveling at its changed mobility.

_Like a gift_, she thought. _A big girl gift_. Her eyes swam a moment with unshed tears as she remembered chastising Bo to drop her baseball bat in favor of something better. Foolishly, she had regarded so many things then. She knew the cost of power now. Knew it from the depths of her hands, her lips, the taste of life and death on her tongue. Knew it from the blood of the woman that stood beside her.

She turned and grabbed Lauren's hands unexpectedly, pulling her tight in an embrace. "Thank you," she whispered fiercely. "For stopping me. For always stopping me." Lauren's face softened staring at the smoke billowing from behind them for many moments, silent, hands wrapped around the raven haired girl.

The blonde's amber colored eyes crinkled at a thought and her features grew into a smile. "Why Kenzi, does this mean I'm done paying for all the drinks?"

Aghast at the very notion, and grateful the emotional moment had broken in favor of levity, the goth pulled away horrified, her mouth dropping into an unutterable denial. Waving her finger at the instigator of madness, she turned her back, walking towards the beat up truck.

"Hotpants, you will NEVER, ever be free of your obligations to the liberator of wheels," she called over her shoulder, climbing into the passenger seat.

Shaking her head once again, at the unlikely truth and trust they had come to, Lauren followed. Clambering into the driver's seat once more, the truck groaned to life under the thief's hotwiring abilities. Cautiously looking over her shoulder, Lauren maneuvered the truck into reverse to head back down the dusty road.

"Lauren." A pause deeper than the ocean followed.

"Do you think we will find her?" The words wavered, fragile hope and loss entwined, circling one another, sending the pitch warbling through the air. The blonde looked at her with a confidence born of undeniable conviction.

"We will, Kenzi."

"We must."


	2. Chapter 2

_**The dreamverse-**_

Swirling darkness gave way to clear, shimmering moonlight as it fell upon a woman with alabaster skin and deep dark tresses making her slowly through the forest garden. The slim fitting midnight gown seemingly devoured the evening's rays, as her heeled feet found purchase on a smooth path that meandered through the trees. A grand building rose on the horizon, complete with arching balconies, and tall narrow windows which overlooked the grounds of the beautiful estate. Looking up at the powerful and majestic towers, the woman's hair bounced and fell, framing a pair of dark chocolate smoldering eyes. She lingered for a moment to hear murmured laughter and conversation that rose above the evening sound of crickets and a haunted call of the mourning dove.

There was someone she needed to see. Up in the tower. The power of the compulsion was so strong, so familiar it shook her. She was late. Running late. Always too late.

Quickly she ascended the steps, passing by littered statues of lions and wolves, some standing, some broken and fallen from their place of rest. The entrance to the building held an atrium with the largest grey-white tree she had ever laid eyes on. The top of the tree seemed to extend past the height of the building, touching the darkened sky. As she slowed her gait, she reached up to touch the silvery bark in passing. Waves of sorrow filled her, tearing at her heart. Gasping and pulling away, she clutched at her chest, eyes filling with tears.

What was this place?

The conversations grew louder, echoing into the corridors down below. A deep voice dripping magnitude bid her enter as the large wooden doors slowly opened for her. A tall dark man, the color of pure ebony, wearing white watched her from the hall for a time, and turning spoke with a powerful voice, "Come."

Her feet moved with a power not of her making, and she found herself trailing after him up the marble staircase. Every five feet stood armed guards; their eyes watched her as she moved, their bodies still as stone. The symbol of the tree she found in the courtyard lined the terraces they passed.

"Who are you?" she asked, slightly afraid of the answer. She felt she knew the man.

"I think the question is, who are you?" the man replied.

"I'm Bo."

"And what do you seek here, Bo?" The man paused on a red carpeted landing, waiting for her answer. Briefly, he looked towards the open doors ahead full of conversation, engagement and warmth and back towards her. "Or perhaps the better question is who?"

Bo moved past him, unacknowledged, and slipped inside the vast, full room.

The world melted down to the very essence of finite, sharpened in the acknowledgement of the small, brief seconds that passed by. All else but the beating of her heart, the small intake of breath, the precipice of anticipation that slid towards inconsequence. Bo fell back against the banquet room chair far in the back, unknown and unnoticed; she watched in rapture towards the podium as the loud applause died down. The coolness of the night air from the open balconies, blended into the ambient temperature of the room. Bo shivered and burned hotter. A flash of blue in the dark surroundings of her table marked the moment her eyes lit upon the figure she was so desperate to see.

Standing there, locks of blond hair incandescent amid the light, Lauren Lewis stood nervously pulling a bit at the brilliant malachite dress she wore. There was tentativeness as she reached for microphone, as if she was not quite sure of the place she now found herself in. The slender woman soon found her voice, however, and affable tones filled the corners as she worked on the words to describe her life's passion, her research, and the meaning of this night. As if mere utterance could encompass all of the late evenings, the sacrifices, the volume of time poured over tomes of humanity's most unattainable secrets, the need to know, to make that knowledge something of benefit. Something useful. To make her useful.

The necklace glimmered. The faint scar dully flickered in the light.

Words starting running over themselves, and Lauren paused, mid sentence before her structure shattered all together. A hitching breath caught in her throat. The quiet in the room become louder as seconds fell over one another as the blonde tried to find the courage for the last part. The very last part. The part that filled her with longing, and love, and need, and heartbreak. **She wasn't here. **A room full of her peers, doctors, researchers, scholars of knowledge, and the one person she wanted most was lost to her.

Bo unconsciously rose from her seat. Standing in the darkness, obscured by all the others between her and one she sought, her eyes fixated on the doctor's trembling hands and the scar. Genius to her captors, the bound servant. Lauren Lewis. Her Lauren. She was a diamond in a sea of glass, the one remarkable thing in a world full of misdirection, deception, and the biting cuts of cheap forgery. But something was wrong. This wasn't right.

Horrified, Bo looked around the room to see once human spectators shift into something darker. The warmth that exuded from the room earlier faded into a pernicious atmosphere.

Lauren couldn't see beyond the lights, blinded by them even as the audience turned malevolent. She finished with the words that she had struggled with momentarily. "None of this would have been possible, without the inspiration, the drive of a woman I will be forever indebted to. For waking me up from my long sleep. For believing even when I didn't. For saving my life."

**Late. Too Late.**

Time slowed down, as Bo rushed past the glowering onlookers, pushing past the chairs, and the grisly faces of those who had appeared human moments before. Snarls filled the air as Bo screamed Lauren's name.

"Bo?" Lauren called moving from the podium off to the edge of the stage, searching. Suddenly appearing into the light from the vast darkened room, the brunette grasped at Lauren's hand and pulled her towards the balcony even as she turned to shield the doctor with her body. Claws ripped at the back of her gown, tearing away the black material and drawing blood. Pushing the beautiful blonde past her, Bo turned and kicked out, catching the beast in the chest and throwing his body back into the tower room. Lauren was busy with the doors and quickly slammed them shut, shoving a balcony chair under the knobs to gain them a few precious seconds.

The brunette looked over the railing. "I don't suppose you could let down your hair for me?" she spoke cheekily. Turning to her left, she saw Lauren's face in the soft moonlight, eyes full of unshed tears.

"You came."

The words pulled at something deep inside Bo and she turned to face Lauren even as the handle to the doors shook and the growls from the room became louder and more violent.

"Oh Lauren," she replied reaching out and pulling the other woman close. Threading her hands through the blonde's hair she continued with fervent conviction, eyes meeting in the dark, "I will **always** come for you."

Arms wrapped around each other, they hung in that moment briefly; Lauren's face found rest in the curvature of Bo's shoulder as the brunette looked for a means of escape.

Bo held Lauren's hand, leading the way down to the forest floor, where moss covered the roots of the trees and the smell of the air was filled with jasmine and the earthy tones of freshly fallen leaves. "We will be safe here, I promise."

"How can you be sure?" Lauren asked. "For all that I remember I never got to attend that banquet, or say those words. You were never there, and yet. Here we are."

"And you didn't have a scar. Lauren, what happened to you?" Bo's attention was again drawn to the blonde's face as it fell. Her lips quivered as she stoically forced a small smile, "Everything, Bo. Everything."

Bo stumbled a bit as dizziness overwhelmed her. Lauren steadied her with her hand and touched the marks that had scored her lover's back. Hissing, she peeled back the shredded dress from the infested, puss filled marks. "It's poison, Bo. You need to heal."

"No, no I can't." The brunette found words difficult as she fell to her knees. "Not here. He'll find me here if I feed."

"Who's going to find you here?"

"Him. I can't let him. Can't let him find me. Can't let him see you."

Reaching around her lover, Lauren gently turned her around, arms tucked in tight, her face mere inches from Bo's torn expression. "Right now that doesn't matter. I cannot clean these wounds here, nor is there a way around the venom seeping into your bloodstream. If you don't feed, you will die," her voice was tight with emotion.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she nudged the trembling succubus into submission with her lips. The blonde's hand caressed the long and slender neck bared before her as the tip of her tongue sought entrance to the Bo's sublime mouth. The cut of the woman's dress afforded her access, as Lauren continued her fingers journey down the sculpted symmetry of the brunette's curvature, tactile sensations giving way to heated demanding responses. One hand became two, became four, as they compelled fabric to part in hastened jerks and pulls, divesting each other the paltry protections from cold air or prying eyes. Faster. Hooks, zippers broken, eyes closed in need as Bo's fervent teeth gently tugged upon the doctor's lower lip, hands blind to their tasks, pushed with adrenaline and a need to finish what was set before them.

Lauren continued to dominate their dance, pulling a newly nude Bo upwards against a large, firmly barked red maple, the hidden power in her muscles betraying a strength the succubus remembered well as scarlet leaves slowly fell with the sway. Smooth legs spread fair skinned lower limbs, as she brought the brush of skin in shocking collision to the succubus' hips, eliciting a scattered moan from her mouth.

Bo pulled back for a moment, blinded by the shifting colors of Lauren's aura. It didn't just shine with a hot fire, it enfolded her until she couldn't discern her lover's from that of her own. Mingling in ribbons of light, dancing in the cold night air, she squinted a bit. Dragging her eyes from Lauren's lips she met stunning eyes of dark amber, timidly reaching out to touch her face. "I'm afraid," Bo relented, naked and defenseless.

An expression of understanding formed on the blonde's face as she smiled lightly, upturned a bit on one side. Uneven. Lauren lowered her head inches from the brunette's nose.

"I know. Don't be. I'm right here."

Bo let go, unable to resist the feel of Lauren's provocative nature, entrapping her against the tree trunk, far away from the fear of capture on the estate grounds. Something niggled in the back of her mind, a trickle of uneasiness made her shiver in the night air as the blonde slowly devoured her lips.

Lauren's soft hand slipped between her thigh, all she could feel was the rough bark against her shoulder blades and the demanding sensations of her core slowly stripping her of any barrier. The succubus' mouth lingered over skin with heated breath as she bit her lip; conscious that this would be her last moment of introspection before she was lost to her innermost hunger.

A hunger that ravished her. Consumed her with an aching need that transcended all thought, logic, and process. The need to feel Lauren beneath her, to cover all of the pain and doubt and mistrust with her body, as if to shield her from the world; to take what was needed to end the dizzy weakness that threatened her body. Bo's mouth worked a will of its own, tracing down an infinitely beautiful jaw line, towards a clavicle, and further. A feast of physical sensation, that smelled completely and utterly of Lauren.

Roughly, unable to stop, Bo engaged her physical strength as she push out, forcing Lauren to turn and bend backwards falling against the trunk. A ragged gasp was pulled from the doctor as momentary panic flooded the woman's chest. Eyes blazing azure, the fairytale creature arose within Bo. Parting her lips millimeters from Lauren's own, deeply inhaling, she tugged on the life strand slowly, gently.

Sensations swirled around Lauren's head as she tried to hold onto thought and description, eyes riveted to the sight of her love unleashed. She grew dizzy as Bo languidly flooded her with euphoria, the aching carnal desire giving way to an enveloping shadow on the edges of her sight even as the light tumbled from her upturned mouth. Her grip on the succubus loosened, the arch of her back turned slack as she began to sag against the bark beneath her.

Bo was undone by the symphony filling her, its power burning off the miasma in her blood, closing the weeping wounds on her back. But something felt different this time as the life force invaded her body. Instead of living blue colors, electric and dark, golden chi swirled inside the small distance between them, gossamer strands that glowed with a vibrant, inner light. The taste was exquisite, filling ever fiber of her senses. Flavors of Lauren filled her. The need to consume everything from the blonde was astonishingly strong, calling her to finish the feast like a siren song. Effort and restraint shook Bo's shoulders and she shuddered against the desire. Hands to her lover's face, reluctantly the succubus relinquished the pull, dropping them both to the mossy floor beneath their feet; blue fire flickered and fell back to unaltered depths of dark brown, as Bo graced Lauren's forehead with a tender kiss.

Lauren's breathing was slow as her eyes remained closed, struggling with the sudden and formidable exhaustion. She tucked her head into Bo's shoulder as arms enfolded her. A cold wind blew through the branches, as Bo watched a dark fog creep up from the shadows, billowing out and pillaging the moonlight as it flickered amidst fiery leaves.

The shiver ran through her again, fast and strong. She knew what was coming. Growling deep in her throat Bo turned her body, still cradling Lauren, eyes alighting upon a naked version of herself; her very twin, except for the sickly sweet smile gracing her lips.

"I found you," the sing song tones of the apparition replied, eyes hungrily devouring Lauren's form.

"You can't have her," Bo's brown eyes fiercely pulled against the power growing strong within her. They remained trained on her doppelganger as it continued its slinking, sensual gait. "She is mine."

"Ours. You mean ours." Confidently, the apparition drew close, blue eyes flared and glowed in the darkness, never leaving Lauren. "We take what is ours and her song is so very powerful. Irresistible. One taste is not enough. We would have more." She bent over, caressing an outstretched leg, lean and slender.

Lauren's eyes opened at the touch and caught sight of the creature that looked so much like Bo. She looked to Bo, feeling the woman's muscles shift as they readied themselves to pounce. Her naked form gloriously aligning with the desire to destroy what would threaten hers. Her hands carefully slid around Lauren to free them from the task ahead. Like a bowstring, the succubus vibrated readiness, glaring at the reality of her other half standing before her. The monster.

Lauren shivered. It was undeniable that the apparition moved like Bo and spoke like Bo, but the predatory zeal in her eye she had only witnessed a handful of times before. The last time was forever etched in her memory. Isabeau had awoken at the Dal to save a dying wolf, and Lauren first experienced the demanding effects of her power, the searing agony of a feed without consent.

"See. You do remember," Not-Bo grinned ferociously at Lauren's shocked expression. "And in this place, I can use you over and over and over again. Your death here is a meaningless construct for my hunger." She waved her hand at the trees. "Like this forest." Immediately the trees caught fire and faded into swirling maelstrom that lay beyond the figure. The moon in the sky was now completely obscured by the hungry inky blackness.

The blue eyed fiend smirked. "Like your Bo."

Confoundment filled Bo's face, as her mouth opened in a silent cry. Stark naked, she flew at the vision of herself, a battle of her will and desire to destroy the demon falling prey to the power of the succubus. Her restraint and her savagery collided against the demon as Bo blocked her way with a fist, connecting to a jaw. Brown eyes shaded to flickers of luminous blue and power filled her body. "You will not have her. You will not touch her."

Raising her head from the hit, and licking blood from her mouth, the demon gazed back at herself.

Lauren pulled further back from the confrontation, rising up from her hands and knees as she slowly walked backwards across the soft ground, her mouth slightly agape in shock and despair. The power emanating from the other being was tangible, consuming, and horrifyingly evil. It covered her in a sense of electrifying dread, as the hair stood up on the back of her neck.

Eyes hollowed and blazing, the Not-Bo smiled. "Why not? How can you stop what you don't understand? You see, in the end, there will be. Only me."

Opening her mouth wide, the demon apparition raised her hands wide and pulled. The force impacted Lauren like a neutron bomb, sinking her to her knees as the breath was pulled forcefully from her lungs. Sharp, needling pain filled her chest as the colorful, vibrant chi was yanked from her body. Lauren slowly toppled to the ground as Bo held up her arms to fend off the streaming burning power pushing back at her with equal force.

"No!" With hardened eyes, Bo launched herself at the chi stream, cutting off the demon's connection with Lauren and pushed herself and her doppelganger backwards into the swirling vortex of darkness as it engulfed them both.

Released from the pull, Lauren screamed out Bo's name into the void.

"Bo! BO! Please, no. Bo!"

* * *

"WAKE UP! Hotpants WAKE UP!"

Gasping awake, Lauren shot up against the back of the pickup truck. Her hands clutched at her throat as if fighting to breathe. Kenzi was shaking her shoulders in a tight grip. Tears spilled down the front of her jacket as she fought for control from where the dream took her this time. It had been weeks since she'd seen Bo in her dreams, but every time was more convincing than the last. This time had almost killed her.

"S..… sorry, Kenzi." Lauren's voice was hoarse from shouting.

"You dreamed about her again, didn't you?" she asked in a quiet voice. Ice blue eyes confronted her even as Lauren struggled to find support against the bed. Humming between her teeth, muscles tense and painful from the cramped position she found herself in, she nodded an affirmative.

Rummaging through the old, worn duffel bag next to her, Kenzi managed to pull a wine bottle from the assortment of clothes and odd sundries. Lauren grabbed the neck and laughed. A 2008 bottle of California cabernet.

"Were you saving this for a special occasion?" she poked at the thief.

"Doc, your taste in alcohol is about as wild as Spock with a bunch of pornos." Grabbing a sharp dagger from her boot, Kenzi took the bottle back and drove the weapon sharply into the cork, wiggling the offensive barrier out of the way.

They had parked far from the road, in a field a few clicks from the last town with a gas station. The night air was hot and humid, a drastic contrast to the dreamscape that had chilled her skin. She peeled off her jacket and pulled a draught from the bottle, setting it aside for a moment.

The loud cacophony of crickets filled the night air and Lauren tried to still her racing heart. Bo wasn't here. She was gone. The dreams felt so vivid, like if she just applied herself she could reach into them and touch her. Hope was a hard thing to let go of, and she wasn't sure she was strong enough. To let go. It felt like giving up.

Turning to the raven haired girl, Lauren noticed that her eyes were vacant and wild, glowing a deep dark violet, her body mildly shivering as she looked over the truck bed's gate. Sighing slightly, the blonde doctor reached back and took a long pull from the bottle before pulling the knife from the girl's fast grip.

She glided the sharp blade over her wrist lengthwise to hasten the flow of blood and offered it to Kenzi's waiting lips amidst her denial.

"Take it, Kenzi. We need you. Bo needs you."

Hesitant and trembling, the girl lapped up the crimson streaming and dripping from Lauren's hand. The feelings of disgust mingled with requirement and ecstasy, as the red drops filled her body with an easement of the ache reaching into her bones. Fae blood sufficed for quick fixes. But what her body craved was human blood. It needed it with the passion of the sun, and to deny it ended, generally, in someone's death. She couldn't go without for very long. Massimo made sure of that.

Kenzi's eyes filled with tears remembering, as she grabbed hold of Lauren's wrist and keep the pressure up by stroking her arm. The blonde leaned back against the shattered window. Fireflies leisurely lit the air around them, glowing gently like magical lanterns hovering in the air. If she could just close her eyes for one second, she would see a staircase filled with light, and Bo's smiling visage waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. She clung to that vision even as she pulled Kenzi close, the dim affable sounds of nighttime dulling the pain and wet thirst that claimed her young friend as she drank her fill.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Black Eyed Peas—Boom Boom Pow, a timeless classic 4 everyone.**_

_**Present Day-**_

_I like that boom boom pow_

_Them chickens jackin' my style_

_They try to copy my swagger_

_I'm on that next shit now._

The tapping of Kenzi's fingers on the wheel kept the rhythm as she cut loose in the driver's seat. The truck followed in performance as the blown speakers bounced it up the abandoned two-lane highway; her black locks moving to the groove as the wind whipped into the cab from the empty back window. Twilight dusk was settling along the landscape, which afforded them better cover and fewer questions from surrounding authorities and the occasional passerby.

_Here we go, here we go, satellite radio_

_Ya'll gettin' hit with BOOM BOOM_

_Beats so big I'm steppin' on leprechauns_

_Shittin' on ya'll with the BOOM BOOM_

"I spy with my very big, very awesome cat eyes, something…maybe brown."

"Dirt."

"Shit. Ok. I spy with my wicked x-ray vision, something blue? No black."

"It's not x-ray Kenzi, it's your tapetum lucidum and that's technically cheating, even if it does reduce your color acuity to zero."

"So, you don't have an answer, doc?"

A heavy sigh emerged from the other side of the cab.

"The sky."

"Ok, I spy …something white."

"Snow."

"Dammit! Hotpants, you are supposed to LOOK around. Isn't that how this game works? Jesus, how the fuck else am I a supposed to win this?" Kenzi made a face at the doctor and shifted her sight back to the dash.

"Well, you could try a different game. There isn't much out here besides road."

_Boom Boom Boom, gotta get-get_

_Boom Boom Boom, gotta get-get_

_Boom Boom Boom, gotta get-get_

Lauren shivered in the cool mountain night air; the obnoxious lyrics bouncing around were starting to wear at her sanity. She had been dizzy for most of the day from this morning's early feed. So much so that driving felt impossible. While she prided herself for being in good physical condition, some things just took time to replenish and she didn't have the time.

No time for any of it.

The nausea still gnawed at her stomach, but her logical thinking overrode her automatic physical reaction. Dropping her head down, she turned on her penlight and opened a backpack filled with stolen power bars, and a couple of cans of soda. When your thief was Kenzi, the options were snack food, junk food, or liquid that rotted your teeth and brain. Also cheezies. Looking at the hidden treasure trove of orange bags littering the bottom, Lauren rolled her eyes and smiled while reaching for something that looked like a fruit and nut bar.

"How much farther till we reach this gatekeeper of yours?"

Taking a bite out of the grainy nourishment, the doctor gestured to towards the right. "About a half-hour. We'll be taking the right hand cut off in a few kilometers, and up the switchbacks till the river. Leena will find us there."

Kenzi looked sideways at Lauren amid the night's growing shadows. Her eyes didn't miss much, including the trembling hand that was quickly lowered back into her lap.

Looking away back to the road, Kenzi fought feelings of anger and guilt. This wasn't how things were supposed to play out. Ever since her change, surface emotions blended poorly with her control. It wasn't fair that the doc had to shoulder her weakness too. And Bo. Bo was supposed to be here. Not. Gone.

"Remind me again, how you know this person and why they've agreed to help us?"

Turning her head from the dash to the window, contemplating an answer, Lauren noticed headlights out the side view mirror that seemed to be gaining.

"Kenzi."

"I see them," closing her eyes for a brief moment, the raven haired girl let loose her senses.

"They're fae. For shits sake, this week just keeps getting better and better. We are nuts to butts with the dark lately. Do you think they've got a 411 on the truck?"

Flipping the buckle on her seatbelt, Lauren undid the strap, shifted around and pulled on the stock of a rifle from the backseat.

"I hope you modified that thing, because last time it was a total dud," Kenzi called out, making a sharp right up the steep incline.

The headlights moved faster from the road below and a few seconds later, they followed their turn, increasing speed.

"That might have had to do with my aim, Kenzi. Which is much improved since our last encounter."

The driver snorted and laughed, "RamLo Part II."

Lauren smirked.

Palms sweaty she pulled on the bolt, opening the breech. She loaded a modified round from her jacket pocket, and slammed the bolt home. Shifting the stock to her shoulder, leaning forward, she looked through the scope, aligning the weapon with her target. This felt familiar. Achingly, horribly familiar.

"Let me know when you hit another curve. "

Grunting, Kenzi shifted the wheel left and added "How about now?"

"You have a straight path ahead?"

Kenzi grimaced and straightened her lips. "Yeah for about 10 seconds."

"Close your eyes."

Letting her hands settle a bit into the weapon, Lauren breathed out and took the shot.

The darkened sky lit up like a white torch as the round exploded against the pursuing car's windshield, blinding the driver as the car veered off course, smashing into the mountain side.

Whooping and hollering Kenzi raised a hand in triumph, smacking the doctor on the side. "You have mad skills doc! Seriously? Where did that come from?"

"Grand adventures," came the enigmatic reply as the blonde flipped back, facing forward in her seat. The hands shook now for a different reason, one prompted more by memory than low sugar levels.

Alrighty, keep your secrets, but I swear to god if you try to horn in on my robot hookers when we get back, assuming this nightmare school field trip EVER ends… your ass is mine."

"Noted."

Ten minutes later, the truck emerged from the steep mountain incline; a ribbon of light could be seen glimmering on the horizon line, signaling the beginning of a river's edge. A few more minutes of travel found their vehicle at a bridge, and Lauren gestured for Kenzi to pull the truck over to park. Hitting the door as the engine shuddered silent, Lauren jumped from the cab onto the dirt beneath them facing the river. Kenzi soon joined her as they waited, quietly on the bank.

"Is this the part where ET comes out of his spaceship and we phone it home or something?"

"Shhhhh."

A large bubble of light formed out of the darkness and flowed towards them. Inside it, a wizened old lady gathered her white skirts and slowly dropped from the sky, making her way to the water's edge.

"Holy SHIT, doc. OZ. This is oz. Is that the… uh?"

"The good witch?" Lauren's lip upturned as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "Well. Yes."

Gasping in delight, the radiant figure ran across the surface of the water, greeting Lauren with the fiercest of hugs. Eyes closed tight, the old woman's brightness dimmed as she spoke, "I didn't think I would ever see you again after I heard."

"Thank you, for answering my call. Unfortunately, no place is safe now. At least…not for me," the blonde countered, gesturing to thief. "Leena, this is my companion, Kenzi."

The white haired fae turned, regarding Kenzi with cold, measured eyes.

"Oh, child. What have you done?"

The goth held up her hands backing away slowly, "What?"

"It's not like that, Kenzi. Leena, I formally make a request as a supplicant in need. May we enter your domain?" Lauren knelt before her, asking for the blessing of the land.

Leena reached out to capture Lauren's hand in her own, raising her up. "You never need to kneel again. Not to me, and certainly not to those who reside herein. No one here has forgotten what you did all those years ago."

The wise woman drew concentric circles around Lauren and Kenzi, focusing her power on the outer enchantments. At one point invisible, the lines of protection flared to life and fell like water, glistening down straight unerring lines, sliding into the river from the sky. It was breathtaking, magical, and utterly fae.

As they walked thru the barrier, Lauren gasped and clutched at her shoulder, sucking air through her teeth. The mark burned. So hot it was like a surgical knife.

Leena looked back at Lauren, concern marking her generous features. "Did she mark you when you were under her constraint?" she asked. The question hovered in the air for a moment before the doctor uttered a reply.

"Yes."

The lady turned back and lended a hand to help Lauren stand. "That I cannot help you with, my child. I can shield you from its effects for a time, but the further you continue with a dark mark, the harder it will become."

"I understand," came her short reply.

The woman gestured towards the young thief, as Kenzi looked to Lauren for approval. The blonde nodded, knowing that, for a time, they were in safe hands.

"Child, there is a beast upon your back, feral and wild. Strong and bloodthirsty. Normally, we would not allow your corruption here, but Lauren has spoken for you and asked for our help in healing what ails you."

"I don't understand, what ails me? My fae power?" Kenzi had longed for so long to be more than the sum of her parts. She loathed what it had made her do, but the power sung in her veins every time she gave in to their need and their strength. Like an addict, she struggled to separate the physical need from an emotional one.

"You have tasted the blood of innocents, yes? You are now something… other. Not human. Not quite fae," the white haired woman responded.

Kenzi nodded a reluctant affirmative, recalling the day when the fresh taste of human blood first coated her tongue. The cold body that lay on the floor.

"It's a long story."

"We appear to have all the time in the world," she replied. "Time is meaningless here. "

"Do you have tequila? I really need some tequila to tell this," Kenzi sighed as she followed along, her arm pulling around Lauren when the blonde stumbled up the hill.

"You ok?" she asked, using her body as support.

"I'll be fine Kenzi. Just fine," the reply was lighthearted, but deep down Lauren wasn't so sure the time spent here wouldn't drudge up some of the things she would rather leave buried forever.

* * *

_**The UnderLands, Time unknown-**_

Bo woke up from the fevered nightmare, unaware of her surroundings. The lingering touch of something menacing slid from her body and onto the floor. Sticky, heavy, its weight had been drowning her; grasping at her throat like a colossus crushing prey. Only in its release could she find air and words. Opening her eyes, shuddering with the aftermath of her vision, she voiced the only thing that came to mind.

"Lauren?"

Silence greeted the echo that reverberated around the room. No light. Nothing. Not even the memory of an echo.

Clambering from the cold, smooth surface beneath her shoulder blades, head ringing, the brunette slid to her knees. The leather chafed against stone as she moved, holding her head between her hands. The pain was excruciating.

"How many rounds are we gonna go? This is getting real old, real fast," she said loudly. Again the walls ate the sound, muffling the verbal intrusion.

Raucous ear-splitting shrieks surrounded her as the walls dropped slowly, cascading a darkened red light upon her face. Squinting a bit, Bo looked up. The newly formed doorway was vacant, as if daring her to cross the threshold. She had seen this before.

Music floated through the corridor, as she stood and passed the gap. It had a melodic air that turned dissonant every few measures. So familiar.

_The temple. The song of her father in the temple. Was she still there? The Dal. Visions of Lauren in different places. Pain. Nothing seemed real. Where was Dyson?_

_Tamsin was supposed to get Dyson. _Bo stopped for a minute, reaching out to touch the black marbled wall, as she tried to collect her thoughts. It felt alive, pulsating with the red light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere.

A howl and cry burst into Bo's ears, as she flipped her head turning towards the source. Picking up her heels, she ran full bore down the hall way towards a door, leather coat fluttering behind her. Solid Mahogany, the handle was hot to the touch, burning her palms.

The cries grew louder in a voice she knew well.

"DYSON!"

Eyes blazing blue, Bo's face twisted in ferocious determination as she kicked the door in, the frame shattering against the force as the door splintered off its hinges.

Snarling, up against the wall, face and chest bloodied, the wolf's fangs glimmered. Cuts from an invisible source grew on his chest, as he surged with rage against his chains.

Something black hovered on the periphery of Bo's vision. She turned, trying to find the source, only to have her face mauled by the sting of something sharp. Dropping in a defensive stance, and pulling her boot knife, Bo edged towards Dyson, eyes searching for the crafty assailant.

"Don't, Bo. Get out of here," the bearded fae managed to get out, eyes tight against pain.  
"He does this every time. Uses me to get to you. "

"What are you talking about?" she shot back, closing the distance between them.

Shimmering into visibility in front of her, a dark haired Adonis unbound his cloak. His eyes held tones of sea grey, the collar of his silken black shirt lay open, his movement graceful. Deadly.

"The succubus, once more," his voice held nebulous quality, vibrating in the air.

"Who are you?" she countered, one hand held behind her reaching out to Dyson's form. There was little room to maneuver in here. An unexplained dread started to swell in her chest.

"You don't remember this dance, do you? Or the one before it?" The sneer from his full bodied mouth, spoke of something Bo couldn't quite place. His hand reached further down his body, stroking his ego as he found what he sought.

Bo quirked an eyebrow at the display, eyes lingering and returning to his face. "You mistake me for a whore. Let me assure you that will be your LAST mistake."

Sea grey eyes flared to vibrant dark blue. "Oh, succubus. I am my master's servant. In bed, and out of it. And you? You will learn your true power, if it kills you and everyone you have ever loved a thousand times over." Moving faster than the eye could account for he stabbed Dyson through the heart, his blade fast and flexible, pushing through hard muscle and flesh, imbedding itself in the wall behind.

The wolf groaned, hands clenched, he sagged against his bindings. Eyes wide, Bo uttered a barbaric cry. Baring her teeth, she rammed the knife into the throat of the sable haired man as her inner beast pulled his chi with cerulean strength. Draining him, she dropped the body and turned, pouring everything she had into Dyson. Flush colored chi infused his lips as blood dripped from his mouth. This was familiar. As if it had happened hundreds of times before.

Nothing was working. It wasn't working. Panicked, she looked around her for another body to drain. Another living vessel. Anything. There was nothing. No one.

Dyson's eyes remained unfocused, looking beyond her. Wet, broken gasps formed around whispered words as she turned back, eyes swimming.

"I kept dreaming of a world I would never see. I wanted you…. but…. you. You…. need her, Bo."

"Find her. Before it's too l—" His breath caught and murmured out at the last, as Bo clung to his form, wet tears streaming down her face, eyes bright with fire and pain and murderous rage.

Disembodied, the same voice from her memory called out into the room of death.

"You believe in love, my dear. Strong, infallible, defiant. Love."

Turning Bo stood and faced the voice only to find the room flooding with humans, begging for her touch, auras glowing with fire. She took them all together, stripping them of life and love and future. Filling the room with her power. With death.

Chuckling at the scene playing out before him, he basked in the radiant flow. "Yes Isabeau. I will make sure love destroys you."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Present Day-**_

Lauren opened her eyes before dawn. The feel of the breeze on her face, the quiet rustling of aspen leaves tinkling with the wind; it felt like years since she had known moments without unbearable consequence. A fraction of the peace she felt now. Looking back, perhaps it had been lifetimes. From her tenuous relationship with parents not of her birth, to the exploration of her gifts in the world, to war and back, to plague, discovery and heartbreak. Enslavement and betrayal. To love. The one saving grace in the lineage that had become her life.

_Bo._

It hurt to lose. To a wolf who's life and chi were so strong. Their dance would end hundreds of years after hers. It hurt to breathe, even as the thought caught in her lungs. Bo loved him. She knew it in her heart, felt the stab of it when confronted with Bo's true purpose in seeking out Taft. Every other moment between them those fateful months-from Bo's confession to their ending, he was there. Like the coda you just couldn't shake. It burned in her chest so fiercely. She had given Bo everything she had, stretching herself to emotional limits untested. But Dyson… Dyson was simply beyond her strength. Her lover had once said life was short. But it wasn't Bo's own life she was talking about. It was her own fragility and mortal failing. As Lauren thought of this, feelings of unworthy jealousy flooded her. She couldn't bear the thought of having the wolf shifter constantly there, waiting in the wings, hovering over the day of her demise. To watch Bo watching him as she grew old. Better to cut the woman loose, follow her fae heart. Biology demanded it. Methodic in its cadence, the wheels of time would push her well past endurance when Bo was simply beginning. It was madness. The impossible reach of a human asking for a normal life with a succubus.

Impossible.

Wet drops fell on her jacket front.

Unbearable that she just couldn't quite let go. Of Bo. She felt the salty moisture track her cheek, sliding down the disfiguring mark. Wishing she could just stop. The price was always more than she could pay.

_The work. The work is what you have. It will do. It may not have the grace to save you as you are, but it will save her. Yes._ Like a template written in stone, she clung to its unerring truth and logic, even while her heart rebelled.

Breathing out, eyes still watering from evocative memories and thoughts swirling inside her, Lauren closed her fists and willed the emotion away. It was hard to get used to being in a place that was safe from the reach of the fae, sheltered from the apprehension that constantly plagued her choices. A place to actually feel again. She had fallen into old patterns that decried the need for vigilance. Late last night, emotionally exhausted from the constant chase, the doctor had plummeted into the hammock that Leena had provided them, crashing into a dreamless, forgiving sleep within the grove. This past night there was no echo of Bo, nor the elusive blue eyed fiend that dogged her lover's steps. This night there was no expectation of touch, the electrifying pulse that shot through her every time she thought of Bo's eyes and the way they captured light. Drowning in the smolder and desire that always seemed to transform them when she looked at her. Perhaps it had been a reprieve for them both.

Staring out into the pre-dawn glow, she could make out the coals of the fire they had warmed themselves by. It had been a long night of sharing before exhaustion fully set in, dredging up those horrible months of apprehension and torment. She remembered Kenzi's words to Leena as she spoke of Massimo, her transformation and the weeks of unerring bloodlust. Remembered her own bitter lessons in trust.

Getting up from the shelter of boughs and the swing of a cocoon that had lulled her to sleep, Lauren decided to do what she knew best. Industry. Her most versatile weapon; keeping her hands learning, working through problems, modifying their methods of protection.

The only way out was through.

Adding wood to the still warm coals, she breathed on the dry branches, whispering oxygen around carbon atoms, emboldening the fire's spirit. Smiling she thought it wasn't unlike what she, herself, was attempting; rousing the body to meet fire's demand. Seemed fitting. Logical. I can be both air and earth to her fire, even if it's only for a little while. Kenzi will add the water to put us out. Laughing quietly at her own joke, the doctor rolled her eyes and pulled her pack closer, opening pockets and pulling out the tools she would need to proceed with stage three.

Perhaps Leena would return with some much needed answers later in the morning hours, but in the meantime, being left to her own devices without a lab or data to work from, meant making do. She had asked Leena for a chi eater in her group. Someone that could verify test results. I would help aid the process.

Her backpack carried most of the ingredients she needed to continue her experiment. The modern Dewar vials held precious mRNA viral vectors; insertion points she had modified with the technology that Taft has afforded her. The fire grew a bit as she finished her preparations, channeling immeasurable emotion into quantifiable resolve.

* * *

The crackling of the fire woke Kenzi from a deep slumber. She hadn't known sleep that well since last calls at the Dal and top shelf booze night with her bestie. The cutting bite of hunger had calmed since yesterday's impromptu feed from Lauren, and she could barely feel the restless energy of the creature inside her. If she didn't know better, she would say it was asleep in a way. The doctor was tinkering again within the filtered early morning light, over a circle of rock and flame.

Hands held a glass vial with tongs, warming over crimson sparks. The smell was acrid as it wafted in the girl's direction.

Generally, nothing could tear Kenzi from a comfortable bed and the edges of unconsciousness, but at the sight of the vial she jumped up tossing everything aside, running over in bare feet firmly planted to confront the doctor.

"You promised you would stop!"

Lauren continued filling an injection needle with the warmed viscous, blue colored liquid, unfazed by the girl's reaction. Tying off a tourniquet on her left arm with her teeth and right hand, she picked up the needle and tapped the air out, quickly plunging the solution into her bloodstream.

Grabbing the vial that was placed precariously on a flat rock, Kenzi threw it into the fire, shattering the glass as Lauren laid back, eyes glazing over.

"I don't have a lot of options, Kenzi. I need to finish getting this ready, and the only way to do it, is to test it."

"With WHAT? You have no lab out here, no equipment and no one to fix it if you fuck up," Kenzi's panicked words filled Lauren's head with exasperation.

"I measured carefully. This dose should be close to maximum," Lauren breathed out, slowly sweating from the strain the mixture was causing, cascading through her heart and internal organs. The last round has been extremely effective, double dosing her with a vibrant energy that lasted for days. But it had left her incapacitated initially, as the enhanced enzymes forced her cellular structure to make more.

"You are a dumbass, Lauren! What the fuck? Dude, you cannot leave me here alone in the Forest of the Pixies. Sparkly Glenda was nice and all, but what about her evil sister? The green one? Or the lollipop gremlins? Goddammit… doc, you are NOT expendable."

The blonde's face contorted into hard set features, scar blazing as she grew angry, her heartbeat fast and irregular. "This is the ONLY way I know how to fight for her! Being fae is NOT the answer, Kenzi. But if I can repair some of the damage I've done, I'm going take the chance. If I can make sure that the energy is there when I need it to be, I'll damn well try for it. She's losing, Kenzi. I can feel it. Every night we connect, I can see her falling into the monster. And she's going to need everything we can bring to the table. All of it."

"How do you even know that's her?" Kenzi shot back; her eyes flaring blue as her hands held onto Lauren's jacket sleeves, the intensity of her question sizzling between them.

"Because I know," came the response, unquestioning. To be anything but faithful in this was inconceivable. "She's there; she needs us to find her. And I know we're close. I know it."

In the past, Kenzi would have questioned Lauren's motivations and focus. But ever since the Morrigan, she couldn't bear to think that the doctor was wrong on this. Faith was all they had now. That and the connection they shared with a succubus empowered. It would either be their salvation… or damnation.

"You could use me, hell you could use ANYONE but yourself. This is suicide if you continue. Last time was bad. Real bad. You don't remember because you passed out, but I swear you had zombie flu for HOURS!"

"Doesn't work on adapted humans, Kenzi. What Massimo did to you, altered you to the core. And I'm not sure I can fix it, without a better understanding of what….. happened. Besides, you're…you are... a bad ass predator now." Smiling a bit at the last, she continued quietly. "You've saved me… more times than I can count. Please. Protect me while I finish this," the last was whispered out as she curled up into a ball on the ground. Hands press out against the dirt, as the shaking began her breathing tight and labored.

"What do I do now? How long does this last? Should I get Leena? Where the hell did she go anyway? Lauren?" Eyes squeezed closed against the unsettling fear, the raven haired thief knelt down and put a hand out, trying to still the blonde's tremors. Kenzi would never voice the fear she held onto with the awful experimentations, but she would show up for someone who showed up for her. Her debt to the doctor was fiercely personal. Blue eyes slowly grew into violet, her cat like reflexes engaged against the world while she waited.

"Lauren. Just come back, ok? Remember how you said Bo needs me?" Looking away into the distant first rays of sunrise over the trees, Kenzi finished, " Well… Bo needs you too."

But Lauren couldn't hear her anymore.

* * *

**_Three months ago._**

Bruce was a veritable fountain of information on everything from Mozart to the machinations of the dark fae court. Patting his arm as they drove through town, Kenzi required only one thing. Druid mojo and location. Finding Massimo had been easier than the thief had anticipated, as they slide up to a tall condo skyscraper. Generally when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Bruce held onto his trepidation as he stoically accompanied the slight woman to her destination. "This is a bad idea, Kenzi. He rarely plays fair." The ding of the elevator announced their arrival at the top floor, as door opened to a hallway of armed guards.

"Doesn't matter. It's what I have to do," came her steely reply.

A knock to the door. The entrance to the goal she sought. Inside Kenzi found the druid lounging in a robe, waiting for their apparent inevitable arrival.

"The pet. Of course. Did you ever finish your chores with the Ash? Perhaps a snack below before he sold you out to the dark?" Intensely, he awaited her answer as a cat waits out its prey.

Kenzi's mouth betrayed a break in her thoughts at the siren. Frowning, she returned to the present. "You know what I need, Massimo."

Getting up, the fae eyed her form, eyes lingering over flesh as if sizing her up for a meal.

"Well, since you no longer want to be a human, as you wish. Exceptional gifts can be given to those that prove themselves worthy of such noble aspirations," he stated.

"Now. Bo needs me."

"Well, with all things, there comes a price," Massimo turned his back from Kenzi as he polished off a glass of wine. The hulking figure of Bruce, stood by the penthouse door, strong arms crossed in front of him as he watched the petite human face off with a druid.

"Whatever it takes. Bo is my family. I may be a kickass human, but as a fae I could do a lot more. I could really be the difference instead of being just the mouth that gets shit done!" Her voice almost rose as she crossed the room, pulling the glass from Massimo's hand. "I can't do it like this. I don't want to go toe to toe only to become fae food, or used in one of your bake offs. This is for Bo."

"No. This is for _**you**_. Tell yourself whatever you want, but the sinking feeling you feel, every time you approach one of us? It's admiration. It's fear and awe and desire. Because humans are truly nothing but food to us," he turned looking out at the skyline, a satisfied curl to his mouth. "You want the real deal? Well ok then, but the payment comes now. And it comes every single moment you care about what you were. Are you willing to make this exchange? "

"Is it permanent?" The hesitation in her voice didn't concern his ominous warning or his blatant disrespect of her species, it came from the idea that someday she would fall back. To where she was now.

Someone capable but inferior. Someone less.

"Let's just say, it lasts as long as you want, and ends when you can endure beyond your desire. Freedom isn't free. Isn't that what the Americans say?" the cryptic response was nothing less than Kenzi feared, but she was too afraid of doing nothing to listen.

"Do it."

Massimo regarded her for a moment, hands clasped together as he paused in thought. "Very well, wait for me here. I might be a few minutes." With a smirk he strode off into the adjoining room and shut the door. A female voice could be heard, murmuring sweet nothings that whispered through the wall. Moments later sounds of rapacious pleasure invaded Kenzi's ears, the permanent thud of a bed hitting the wall, and Kenzi sat down on the plush couch, rolling her eyes at the irony of it all. Bruce stood by, eyes to the floor, saying nothing.

Disheveled, returning sometime later, Massimo emerged from the room and handed her a neatly labeled phial.

"I'm not waiting for you to finish with your brothel and Ew. What is that?"

Smugly, Massimo flipped the glass container in the air and caught it with a wink. "I'm a druid, and usually larger requests, require larger power. Sex magic is my vocation. Your friend, the succubus? Let's just say, she always on my wanted list. Think of this as an IOU, Kenzi.'" Pointing at her chest, he reached up to finger one of her dark locks of hair. "You owe me…one succubus ride. And I always make sure the debts owed me are paid in full."

Pulling her head sharply out of hands reach, Kenzi regarded him with a dispassionate gaze. "We'll see how much you like her when she takes everything you are to charge her car battery."

An arrogant smile graced his full bodied lips as Massimo ignored her comment and instead gestured towards the container now in the thief's hands.

Kenzi regarded the phial. "'Drink me', it says. Seriously? Alice in Wonderland?"

"Just a joke, something from back in the day."

"Wow, do you ever get out? Or do you just molder here at the top of your world?" she finished the retort, her hand pulling the glass to her lips and she downed the entire potion, bubbly and pungent.

At first nothing happened. The air was quiet and still. Within a minute Kenzi was breathing heavily, eyes wide in terror. The changes were rapid and brutal. Spilling to the ground, with Bruce at her side, she shuddered and shook, rocking and gasping like a broken fish on the floor.

Bruce growled low in his throat. He knew better than to challenge a druid in his chambers, but it didn't stop the raw hatred that scorched his heart. The girl had a pure soul. Watching it being violated and corrupted by this poison was hideous and vile.

"Hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?"

Kenzi couldn't respond, her entire body was alive in sensations; sharp sounds once dull were horribly ruthless against her eardrums. It was, as if she couldn't breathe from the pounding that now resided in her skull. The skin stretched where her mouth had been, into a small snout. The eyes once vivid blue a dull pulsing purple. Her body screamed for nourishment she had never before craved.

Opening the adjacent door, the handsome druid escorted a nude female figure onto the carpeted living room floor, who watched the girl's transformation with unmitigated horror.

Kenzi saw red.

The smell of it was everywhere, a taste that slipped into her nose and poured down her throat. A coppery, bitter scent cascading over her like a relentless tide. It was an uncontrollable, ruthless need.

Unable to comprehend her actions, she fell upon the woman like ravenous hound.

Covering her hands, filling her mouth, it flowed over the neck, shoulder, and arm. The scream lasted but a second. She'd never felt so powerful before. A mortal stripped of life, the shag carpet saturated with scarlet hues. Eyes staring at the ceiling, vacant.

So free.

"There is only one catch, Kenzi dove. Fae will never satiate your hunger. Besides, that would be like cannibalism, right? Or it would be… if you were fully fae. Unfortunately, humans can't evolve quite that far. Ascension comes with a price. And your price is sanguine in nature. Only the taste of human blood will end your need. You will want it like a dog in heat, like a succubus in love, like you have never needed anything before."

Crying out at the horrible price; shuddering at the loss of life, Kenzi clung to Bruce as they were escorted out of the building. She had never known such sweet flavor. Such terrified howls as the fangs bit into the soft flesh. The contradictions were cacophonous in her mind as she tried to grasp the purpose. Her purpose?

She was free to help Bo now. But… where was Bo? She had to get back…to somewhere. Everything seemed less imperative than before. The Dal. Yes, they would return to the Dal.

Shielded from eyes, Bruce picked the light girl up and carried her to the car, far away from the druid's power. Putting her in the passenger seat, he regarded Kenzi with worry. Her slitted eyes glimmered in the muted light of the shaded car windows, as small satisfied smile spread her mouth.

So much to do.

* * *

In an observatory, far from the bustling downtown, work was proceeding to schedule. The wolf shifter had been contained, the doctor's abilities harnessed, her genius approaches to genetic manipulation bent to Isaac's will. Soon, the world would know. He would have his power, and his gracious collaborator would have their prize.

"Make sure the she's returned the Miss Marquise after this. I'd hate to keep her waiting. I have what I need once this is finally finished." The instructions left to Taft's men, before the surgery that would either alter him or kill him, were very specific. Lauren was scrubbing in on the opposite end of the corridor, framed in another room's glass window. Taft turned, regarding her for a beat. "She was my key. But…once the door is unlocked, what use is a key?" Shrugging with a whistle between his teeth, he turned towards the wolf.

A few hours later, time found Lauren treating Dyson's aspiration point and checking on his fluids. Hastily, she snuck a note from her lab coat and shoved it into the shifter's pocket, hoping beyond hope that he would find it once he woke. She had mitigated his anesthetic to lessen its effects and provide a faster consciousness time. The only thing she couldn't do was lessen his pain. Time was critical. There were explosive chemical charges set in the lab and office on a delayed combustion cycle, giving them maybe another hour. Regardless of where she was, those canisters would explode, and hopefully Dyson and Bo would have a fighting chance to free the captives and run before it all blew. It was a horrible choice. There would be loss of life, but leaving the research in the hands of this madman, unchecked, was unthinkable. As she turned to reenter the operating theatre to monitor Taft's condition, she collided with a sharp end of a rifle butt, and conscious fled her body.

Waking to a throbbing feel at the back her head, blinding agony greeted her when she tried to draw a breath. Her bonds sealed her hands tight together against her back, as she was dragged from a dank cell. Her lab coat was a dirty mess. She was unaware of the time that had elapsed, as a sick, stale taste of bile formed in the back of her throat.

Dumped unceremoniously on tiled floor, she tried to climb to her knees, to get a sense of bearing. Hands roughly lifted her up and held her fast.

"The succubitch's whore. Excellent." Honeyed tones from the Morrigan filled Lauren with slow dread as she lifted her head, to a room filled with darkened light. Twelve faces greeted her, robed in black. The Morrigan stood in front, clad in a silken red dress.

"Human, former doctor of the light. No sigil defends your body. That makes you fair game, wouldn't you say?"

Unable do more than raise her face to the slippery light, her lips formed a hard line, saying nothing. It was pointless to defend what she had willfully thrown away. Protection and security. Hale had warned her. She had trusted incorrectly, and in saving Dyson's life she had forfeited her own.

A raised hand came down hard, splitting Lauren's upper lip wide open as the ring struck tender flesh. Blood escaped her mouth, as she looked back up, eyes flinty and resigned.

"Since you refuse to answer, let me do the talking for you," Evony spoke, inches from Lauren's brutalized face.

"You. Are. Mine."

"I own you. And what I own, I do with as I see fit. These, my dark brethren? The fae elders of night want your life. For your treachery of the fae. For using your knowledge in willfully seeking to destroy your betters."

"In simple terms, you know far too much. But your knowledge could be my gain. Give me the answers I seek, help me build an army of dark fae, and I will reward you with continued breathing."

Slowly gleaning understanding, Lauren's mouth opened to fixed and unshakable truth. "It was you all along? You funded that monster. You sold out dark fae too, sacrificed your own people to his loathsome science. Turning humans to fae."

It all clicked, as the doctor breathed out quietly, stricken. "My god, you want a war."

The leader of the Dark moved towards the doctor, whispering in her ear. "You blew up my opportunity to realize victory. All that groundwork, destroyed. You took everything I paid for. You. Did this."

Lauren's lips turned a bit on the corners in a smile, knowing this was the one triumph she could claim over their blinding arrogance. Taking Taft out of the game. If only she had been able to take herself too.

The Morrigan's anger was palpable as she grabbed the doctor's face tightly, spitting out the words. "Tell. Me. How to make humans into fae!"

"I'd rather die."

Snorting, the Morrigan moved to her henchman, pulling a long curved blade.

"Death is soooo overrated."

Smiling with a saunter, she came close once more, the sharp edge of the knife a hair's breadth from Lauren's eye. "There are so many ways to gain your cooperation. Taft promised me a weapon. I'm here to collect. And you have all the answers I seek. "

Snapping her fingers, the guards holding Lauren dragged her over to the brazier off the side chamber, hot molten metal bubbled in the pot. The Morrigan gestured at her shirt as it was ripped shoulder to breast baring the skin underneath.

"We don't do things the way the Light does. Here, things are permanent. Here you can't hide from what you are. And you will most certainly… never forget."

Without warning, the fae leader slashed down, striking Lauren's face with the edge of her knife, drawing a dark gash temple to chin, hideous and raw. The doctor didn't feel the force of it so much as the blood that dripped down her chin and neck, pooling into soft fabric. The sharp pain came after as she sucked in a cry, unuttered. Strangled in her throat.

"I like knowing who my servants are when I look them in the face. No muss, no fuss. Easy management. But this? " She pointed to the cauldron.

"This binds you to us. You can never leave. Never go back. Never return to anything but the dark. Lands, temples, druids will recognize you for what you are. Our property."

Lauren trembled as Evony pulled a brand from the fire, coated with a shiny metal. The heat was palpable as it neared her flesh. She pulled back against the guards, knowing what was coming.

Bo would protect her. Bo would come. Pleading for her lover in her mind, for a split second she held onto the hope that rescue would burst through those doors and take her from this.

But Bo wasn't here.

When it touched her skin, she screamed, unable to contain the searing agony that ripped through her shoulder and her body. A rippling black light glimmered brightly with a magical aura as the brand was embedded. Bound. The smell of her own burned flesh flared in the doctor's nostrils before she lost sight of the glowing orange rod and the hand wielding it, and knew no more.

* * *

_**Present Day-**_

In the grove that held an unconscious human and her hybrid companion, Kenzi felt the earth move and shift with footfalls, her hearing magnifying the movement as eyes caught shadows flickering in the trees.

She shook Lauren, trying to rouse her from her senseless state as the doctor groaned and shifted her body, convulsing a bit at the touch.

The smell was wrong. Something familiar but not one she could place. The catlike girl raised herself up, dropping her back legs into a crouch, claws extending slowly out for a fight. She trembled with unreleased energy and snarled low in her throat.

"Unless you have a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, and a bottle of aaaaaamazing tequila, turn around and walk away slowly."

Leena moved into view, her countenance sparkling, holding up her hands in a steadying gesture. "It's alright dear. No one here will harm you. I gave you my word."

Kenzi stared hard past the woman into the trees beyond, her nostrils flaring. "Who's with you? I can smell them."

"One is Falwyn, the chi eater I promised Lauren to bring. The other… well, you may yet know him."

A diminutive man slowly came forward, balding head graced in the light above the grove. "Will a bottle of Buckthorn do? Hello Kenzi."

The girl's face drew back in amazement and shock, disbelieving the sight before her, as she shook her head. Tears streamed down her face as she covered her mouth briefly. She ran full bore at the man, unable to contain her overwhelming emotion as he crushed her to him, holding fast and strong.

"Trick."

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, keeping her close as the warmth of the sun's rays sheltered them in light.

**A/N: Warm Fuzzies Finally even as the pain is poured on! ****Thanks to everyone for their lovely thoughts and encouragement.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**The UnderLands, time unknown-**_

The realm was strangely quiet, the air still with a chilled element that left Tamsin feeling sapped and drained. Every room, corridor, and darkened courtyard was a manifestation of her Lord's powerful will. The passing world above was guarded against His presence though sacrifice long ago. Only in dreams could one connect to the living from this place. Only by trapping others and sending them out into the world, could he crush His enemies. Some called Him the Father of Nightmares, and they would not be far from the truth. His ability to find your fear and systematically destroy you with it, was well known. And well practiced.

Kneeling at the feet of His throne, Tamsin's normal brash countenance had fled, and in its place lay resignation mixed with fear. Her face betrayed none of her internal concern, however, as vivid green eyes looked up to meet her Master's.

Cold.

Like steel, the voice held a deep seated power that slipped into her bones, slicing her as He spoke. _"Your wings would be proper payment for the betrayal you laid at my feet. It's a shame they were taken from you when you left Odin. A shame I was denied shredding them before your eyes, as you pleaded for your life's purpose."_

Looking quickly back to the floor, Tamsin shuddered at the thought and the separate memory. Struck from her body by Odin, when she swore vengeance against a God, she could no longer hold to the course of rebirth. This was her very last life, the direction of her expiration fixed when she turned from Odin and all she had ever known in grief and despair. She had come to Him. The King under the Hill. Forbidden magic to enter a forbidden realm, she had dared to cross His land's boundaries, and in doing so, entrapped herself within his power. Death would be her only escape. Much like Acacia. And now…Bo.

"I will obey."

"_Yes, you will, my broken cur. I need her."_ Black eyes flittered among His court as He rose from His seat and loomed over her, His mere countenance overshadowing everything. _"I need her ready. Attend me."_

Walking though the vast throne room, the Valkyrie followed, compelled by His wish. As they walked, her Master looked above, skittering across images from the glass ceiling that held the world above. That realm was free from shadow and dreams and dust. He was looking for something…someone in the UnderLand sky.

The scene above His head shifted, as He looked above. An early morning captured in the light of a grove of trees. And embracing pair. The Dark Lord's eyes grew red when He caught sight of the Blood King. Darkness swirled around Him as He gathered His power, cloaked in its supple smoke and ash.

King under the Hill. Finvarra. Lord of the Dark and Master of Death.

"_I will make him suffer, as I made his daughter suffer. For trapping me here by his PITIFUL peace. Taking what was rightfully mine and will be again. By his blood, my vengeance will blanket this world and ALL shall kneel at my feet."_

Passing His gaze from the echoes of the living, his focus lay on the room ahead.

"_She must be fully awakened and aware. The Dawning freed her power."_ He laughed, and the mirth froze Tamsin to the core. "_The fool of a wolf never saw his interference as anything but love. His fear played right into my hands, as I knew it would. Look at where the folly of love has led her."_

The blonde hesitated to look into the chamber that housed the succubus. She knew that Dyson had been killed and reborn a hundred times; knew that Bo had killed many in her countless bouts of rage and fury. Death was meaningless here. There was nothing but the pain of it, the ripping of soul from body, as the Dark Lord pressed it back inside once again. Sometimes quick, sometimes agonizingly brutal, He had captured His daughter's loathing of choice and pushed her into making mortal ones, thousands of times over; using the wolf's agony to break his daughter of mortal temperament.

"_The weakness must be purged from her soul, Tamsin, in order to usher in a new age, a new world." _

As a vessel. His vessel. A Conqueror.

Where the Garuda had failed, in War, the Champion would win with lust and cataclysmic control. All would hail His arrival back into the world of the Living. Lord of Death, King of all Fae.

Tamsin broke inside at the sight of what greeted her.

Bo was gone and in her place, stood a magnificent, devastating creature of darkness. Tamsin's eyes watered as she felt the compulsion rip through her. Commanded to kneel with nothing but thought, Tamsin shook as the sultry demon caressed her face, slicing her with a nail, catching the blood with her finger. It felt like estcasy, and the blonde caught her breath against the pleasure of it.

The blazing white blue eyes never left her face as the succubus cut her own skin, mixing the crimson essence. A viscious smile curled her mouth.

"_You are mine_."

"I am yours," the words were pulled from the Valkyrie like butter. She couldn't fight it, couldn't utter a sound against it. Her body thrummed with desire and command even as her heart had yearned to fight it.

All other thoughts fled as the enthralling overtook her soul.

* * *

_**Present Day-**_

I'm so sorry," Trick whispered again, keeping Kenzi held fast against him.

"The Morrigan told us you were dead."

A matching set of wet warm eyes pulled back and regarded her, as the man bowed his head with regret. "She lied to hurt you both. And it was necessary for everyone to believe I was gone."

"But WHY?! God, we needed you. I needed you, so did Lauren!" she pointed to the figure huddled in her leather jacket, blindly reaching for purchase against the ground as she hauled herself up. Turning towards them for a moment, the doctor's eyes exuded a faint golden glow before she collapsed back into the dirt, unable to utter a word beyond a soft cry.

"My god. What caused this?" the sage king voiced as he approached her, carefully moving to avoid her shaking limbs.

Eyes closed tight, Lauren struggled to form words. "I…did." The color and vibrancy of the air around her was fracturing; muting into bendable waves of light, as the blonde grimaced against the flood of energy pouring out of her skin. The power of it smashed against her thought and reason, as her body struggled to keep up with the strain. Another flare of energy shoved consciousness back into the far reaches, as Lauren's face fell against the dirt.

"Falwyn! Hurry please." Leena called out to her fairy companion, a graceful looking sylph woman, who loped into view, her dark eyes catching fast against the doctor's figure.

"I've never seen anything like this before," she hushed out in awe, fingers reaching out to trace the patterns of light surrounding Lauren.

From her position near Lauren's head, Kenzi looked up at the fae with earnest features. "What's wrong with her?" she shouted.

"The chi is overwhelming her body. I can see it literally stretching her skin, pushing against the boundary. It's…" She caught her breath, as her eyes took on a familiar blue tinge. "Well…it's intoxicating."

Trick grabbed the sylph's wrist and pulled it away as he looked into the chi-eater's eyes. "Wait. "

Leena gasped, as the air rushed by them, yanking Lauren's chi up into a strong aerial vortex. Her body lifted off the ground as Kenzi struggled to hold her fast.

"Trick, help me!" the thief shouted.

* * *

_**The Dreamverse-**_

"_Lauren, please babe hurry_."

The voice was achingly familiar as the blonde doctor faced a shimmering door amid trees. The forest was alive again, the same evening scent as when Bo was pulled from her naked embrace within the vortex. She looked down seeing a pristine lab coat covering a soft cotton shirt and her favorite pair of button down jeans; the Ash's mark once again around her neck.

The dream.

"_Lauren_."

Tracing the line on her face…. Not quite a dream.

She reached out to touch the door's surface, the energy sparking gently against her fingertips. The voice seemed to be coming from within, and it pulled at her heart, filling her with regret. Turning the knob and pushing it forward she fell onto the stone tile of the Ash's throne room, shouts surrounding her.

The fae were everywhere. Battling for control. For their lives. Clashing of swords, the heat of fire being thrown from a gigantic fireball hovering in the center of the room, the noise was deafening. Her body shook as she rose from the crouch, trembling with energy. The sounds of anguish and the dying littered the room like the bodies on the floor. The fighting filled the chamber. She ducked under the slash of a rapier and pulled back towards the wall.

Pulling in a breath, she looked towards the throne and drew back in shock. Words unuttered fell from her mouth. The dark incarnation of her love, face twisted in savage hate, held the Blood King by his throat draining the life from him in slow pulls. The swirling blue of his chi lingered in unmerciful eyes, glinting in the light with promised destruction.

"_Not there, love. Look away, that's not her. Come._"

Shoving against the wall she incautiously ran through the room following the sound of the voice, skidding around the corridor, making her way to places familiar. She slipped on the blood pooling in the hallway and had to catch herself against an unattended armoire. A mirror caught her eye resting against the antechamber's wall and she was drawn to it. Facing herself in the glass, amber eyes reflected back, glowing with an inner light, potent and fierce. She could almost feel the power she held within her, leaking out as her heart thrummed loud.

"_Keys open doors, babe. And there is one only you can open. Hurry._"

Clashing sounds and grunted ripostes filled the corridor as the fighting pushed its way into the antechamber. Out of time. Lab coat fluttering, she ran towards double doors at the end. Slamming them open, the blinding white of her lab filled Lauren's vision, framing someone long gone.

Nadia.

Bereft, gravity betrayed her body as the doctor sank to her knees, confounded by the image of her lost love. Anger, utter loss, crushing guilt; the feelings unchecked swirled around her heart, filling her with so many words left unsaid. So many confessions unvoiced.

Haltingly, they came, vaulting over the sob that strangled her. Condensed into one overpowering sentence, "I failed you."

Sea-grey eyes tracked her movements, as the Grecian woman knelt down and enfolded Lauren's hands within her own. "_No, Lauren. You may have done many things in your life, but failing me was never one of them._"

"I couldn't wake you, couldn't save you, couldn't tell you I loved Bo…"

Smiling, the tall plait haired woman lifted Lauren back to her feet, savoring a kiss upon her cheek. "_I had my time in the sun with you, and saving me was never in your hands_," she paused pulling the slight blonde close. "_As for love_," her voice fell into a hushed reverence whispering over the words. "_I forgive you_."

For all her ability to see beyond the pain into the meaning, nothing prepared Lauren for the weight of those words, spoken out of time and place. The normal, unflappable wall of emotion she held tight crumbling around her. She couldn't remember a time of not guarding against the pain of those five years, grasping at hope, wearing away the floor in the stasis room with her pacing, the solitary meals, watching the stars in silence. It had broken something inside her; something precious and young. Holding tight to a ghost, tears streaming down her face, Lauren let go.

Trumpets blared against the compound walls, dissonance pounding against the stone frame work, masking its true intentions known with virulent strains of force.

Nadia, looked over her shoulder with the trumpet's call, separating from the doctor, and stared at a prone form, lying on the examination table. "Right now, I'm not the one you need to wake." Lauren looked over to where Nadia's gaze was directed.

Bo lay on the table, face ashen grey, hovering between life and death. Her Bo. It looked like she had been asleep for a hundred years. Dust covered her body, her whispered chest movements were the only indication that she lived.

"But how?" she turned back to Nadia, uncertain at the place she found herself now in.

The clear eyed woman sadly regarded Lauren, as she lifted a hand to pull blonde locks away from the doctor's face. "You are always so focused on the how, and never the why. Sometimes it's not about what you can prove; it's about what you believe."

Dyson's words.

Nadia smiled briefly as she faded from sight, words echoing about the tiled room. "Now you must wake her. I think you know best of all how. But you must hurry. The dawn of night fast approaches."

Bending down, the doctor traced the curve of the Bo's face, the trim jaw line whispering dust as her finger trailed skin. In the stories, they say a kiss would wake anyone who falls into enchanted slumber. Bo was extraordinary—meant for so much more than the path she had chosen. But it meant so much more that she chose to defend those who would never last her lifespan, those who would be as seconds to her day. What's more, she held all of Lauren's yearning and heart. The doctor has been drawn from day one, like a moth to flame, like the stranded finding shore. Bo was hope. Her hope. Her everything. Moisture fell from the scarred woman's face as she dipped her head in supplication, seeking absolution from lips held prisoner to slumber.

The touch of her tongue, the murmured confession of the damned as Lauren kissed her mouth. Inbound breath from her lover uncoiled the restless` energy within the doctor as something tugged at the essence overflowing her body. The sleeping brunette roused, eyes fluttering beneath dusky lids as she responded to the blonde's call. Hands once languid rose to meet golden locks, tangling within them. Lauren couldn't halt the sensations that rushed out as the intrinsic aurulent chi making up her core was savored and imbibed. Bo grasped with her strength and pulled the cascading mane of hair downward, deepening the kiss, eliciting a hushed whimper from her willing supplicant.

Trumpets blared again, beating across the air, a promise of power thrumming through the dream, as Lauren pushed more and more of herself into Bo, increasing the desire and response from the succubus. Bo's eyes opened, flaring a wild blue gold, as she gasped, sitting up and pulling away slightly from the one that had awakened her.

"Lauren?"

Gold chi still filled the distance between them, whispered strands of it fluttering down Lauren's skin, swept up in the current towards the beautiful fae woman who reached out; the energy soaking into her body, filling the succubus with power. She had never before allowed herself to ever partake of her lover's chi, not before the dreams. Restraint was the only way she could ever show Lauren that what they shared was sacred in a way and utterly singular. But the taste of the hue coming off of the blonde was exhilarating and overwhelming, undeniable.

Lauren smiled a bit and leaned into to nuzzle the brunette's neck, murmuring gratitude into the hollows of her flesh. The doctor closed her eyes briefly as she basked in their moment of reconnection.

A monster slinked into the room, unnoticed, cerulean eyes fired with promises of devastation. NotBo clucked her tongue as the blood king's head thudded to the floor, dripping life fluids on the tile.

Eyes wide Bo looked beyond Lauren's shoulder to see the creature glide closer, a sneer distorting her face. "No," Bo whispered, "not you. Please." She felt paralyzed by her demon's presence.

A few of the Dark Queen's thralls entered, filling the room with their heat, framing their mistress's need.

NotBo's black dress barely concealed anything, as she continued to move towards them. Her eyes filled with desire, reaching out to Lauren who groaned under the thrilling powers of her doppelganger.

"Such power, Bo. We feel her as you do. Yet, I have hundreds, bound to my will. Tell me truly, what is one love compared to an entire world of the willing?"

Bo reacted on pure instinct. Gritting her teeth hard, her hands found the handle of her favorite dagger strapped to her leg. Pulling against the clasp, with one smooth motion, Bo pushed forward, shattering her twin's breath with eight inches of protruding steel.

NotBo looked down at the hand that had struck her, blood bubbling from her mouth.

"Equal and opposite reactions… as your doctor would say…."

Bo looked down as a matching stain of crimson red blossomed out on her chest. Her pain receptors registered the stinging agony a moment after, and she sank to the floor of the dream unable to breathe.

Freed from the dark seductive touch the creature had elicited, Lauren screamed out for Bo and found herself catching the brunette's weight as the woman slid to the floor, unable to comprehend her fatal mistake.

NotBo fell, sliding down the wall as she caught herself, the disdain etched in her features as she spoke with difficulty. "Kill me….. kill y…yourself." Bleeding out, the doppelganger coughed and sputtered, eyes glazing over as she fixed on the blonde.

Bo was choking on her own blood as Lauren pressed strong hands over the chest wound, openly sobbing as she tried to stop the inevitable.

"Don't. Le…let..me go. Can…can't let her win." Bo's chocolate eyes filled with the pain and weakened hands tried to fight the doctor's ministrations.

Lauren shook her head fiercely as she pushed harder. Broken words fell out. "I can't lose you. I won't lose you. I just found you again."

Eyes glistening though tears and revelation, the brunette struggled to get out the words over the blood drowning her lungs. _"Lo…love you."_

Lauren rested her forehead against Bo's, whispering words of endearment and love, wetness trickled down Bo's face from above, but she could no longer feel it. The blonde's breathing grew erratic as she looked around the room, emotions overwhelming her when she saw the monster's watching eyes, bloodied hand to bloodied chest.

"You knew."

"You knew all along I would never be able to let her die."

Her beautiful, broken Bo.

The creature smiled.

"Take me. Take all of it. Save her."


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Sorry about the wait everyone. Life blew up. It's better now. Cheers!**_

_**The UnderLands, time unknown-**_

Chilled air shifted in the chambers of shadow, as the wolf regained his thought and mind. Nostrils flared against the scent of decay as he grunted, pushing his hands against the stone floor, muscles rippling with effort. His eyes flickered forward along the length of his arm as he raised himself standing. Welts, burns, scars, tears in his flesh, all vanished with the realm's will. Flawless skin met his fingertips and he shook his head in resignation as the cold clutches of death seeped from his body. Like a dream.

His mind felt raw and uncertain. Oblivion had come and gone so frequently, he felt time slipping him. The beast within snarled at the violation and helplessness. Warriors faced death cleanly, not as food. Facing away from him, Bo stood over Tamsin, the wind rippling gently around her, fluttering around the dark dress she wore, her dark chestnut hair whispering over air. Blinking, his eyes watered at the euphoric, dangerous feeling sliding over nerves. Compelling and sinuous energy radiated outward.

"Bo," he called out, reaching out with his hand.

Brilliant white blue eyes sharply turned, appraising his naked form. Breath left his body as he held back a moment, caught by the intensity of her power.

"So…beautiful," Dyson uttered, unaware he had even spoken.

_Wrong. Wrongness. _The wolf howled in his mind.

She strayed from the valkyrie's side, waltzing slowly up to his chest, under her father's watchful eye.

"The fallen angel is now mine," she said, a one sided smile graced her lips. "And very soon, you…. will join her as my thrall," the last words were bitten off as he bucked against the power and her slender fingered touch. He stood as desire pulsed through him, trying hard to shake the overwhelming waves of control and the easy slide into her flesh.

"Bo. This isn't you," he finally managed, dragging his hands from her intoxicating hold, pulling them away.

She bit down. Blood formed at the corner of her mouth and dribbled down towards her chin as her tongue caught its downward trail.

"You are my mate, are you not?" she cruelly smiled. "Did you, or did you not a vow to die for me?" More power pulsed through him, pushing his senses aside, as lust filled his mind. Concentrating over anything else but the smell of her became impossible, as his hands slowly glided down her dress, lifting her up towards him.

The woman smiled knowingly, raising an eyebrow has her hands skittered up and through his beard. Softly, she caressed his face, mouth opening to his as their lips touched. Dyson grunted as Bo bit his lip hard, and blood flowed, the tang of its taste strong in his mouth. Power coursed through his veins, tingling down nerves causing him to pull away and gasp.

Mutable sounds came from across the room, as Tamsin let loose a long held breath still kneeling upon the floor.

Bo's eyes met black, as the succubus turned in Dyson's arms towards her father. Smirking down at the subdued valkyrie whose head was bowed, she closed her eyes for a moment, brow creased in concentration. "More is better. More will ensure my victory, Father."

A faint amber ghosting rippled and moved across the ceiling as the Dark Lord looked up towards images skittering across the surface. The bright glow illuminated the entirety of the ceiling's cover, like a sun.

"There she is again," Isabeau whispered looking up, mouth opening in breathless want. "So … delicious," the sing song voice pulled up into higher registers. The blue eyed visage could not stop looking at it as a devastating smile graced her face.

Finvarra tilted His dark countenance towards her, shadows billowing from His cloak as He made His way closer, glancing up at the shimmering ceiling.

"Of whom do you speak?" He asked, each word chiseled from stone.

The succubus ignored his ungentle question, and reached towards the bright hue, hands gracing the texture of light. "She calls to me in the night. I would have all of it, all of her." Both hands grasped at the energy, sundering the spectrum.

There was an ear shattering of the air as the ceiling unzipped and light poured in from the tear she had touched, slamming the succubus and the wolf to the floor. Head thrown back, fingers curled, mouth open, the creature consumed the energy breaking into their sheltered night. She gorged herself on its ferocity, unable to stop the flow as the smile bent downwards into pain. The golden light burned at the layers of black forming beneath her skin, peeling them back.

The Dark King's eyes opened wide in astonishment and for a brief moment, wonder. Never before had the veil been torn by any. It was His prison, His tomb. Isabeau's hand had bridged the gap ripping apart an entrance, taking the bound chi flowing from the world above.

Ignoring his daughter, He threw himself at the opening as if to escape the night, but hissed in pain as the luminous chi touched his body. He shrunk back, snarling.

The succubus shuddered, crying out as the darkened light fled her body, inky stains running rivulets on the stone floor as they leaked from her hands and eyes. Burning away the darkness. Abruptly the life force turned to ash and the succubus choked on the vestiges of its force. The wind and brilliance vanished, the vortex slamming shut in the heights above them.

Bo gasped for air; tear tracks lined her face as she recovered from the onslaught. The chi was as familiar as breathing, like home; a calm force pushing back the shadows that had clouded her mind. She knew pieces of time were missing. The last vision she had was of Lauren's distraught face shouting at something beyond her focus. And blood, the taste of coughing the bitter fluid. Blue eyes shimmered with gold, as she pulled herself to her feet, aware once more of her surroundings.

"Daughter, remake the gateway. Give me her name."

Bo turned to the black figure, overshadowing her body. "No."

Pulling His reserve height, the Dark One threw back His cloak which billowed outwards as darkness flooded the room. He drew an ebony tipped spear. Black eyes glittered in the eternal twilight.

"You defy me? That would not be wise."

Bo jaw drew a hard line. "Dyson. Tamsin."

Her words commanded their devotion, as they rose and stood beside her. The long hallway behind the self crowned King filled in winged legions of his eternal court. Tamsin, even filled with Bo's confidence and thralling, shuddered. "You can't win against him, Bo. We will just die again. There is no point to this."

"Do you know how long I've been alive, Isabeau?" The Shadow Lord asked, cocking his head to the side, moving forward slightly.

Bo stood stock still in the middle of the room, awaiting his answer.

"As long as this Earth has danced around the sun, I have been here. Your Blood King nothing but a speck of dust orbiting this planet. I am older than fae, than the Garuda, I am nothing you can conquer. I don't just deal death. "

He moved forward, dark eyes shining.

"I AM death. Give me. Her. Name."

Tamsin turned and reached out, meeting Bo's eyes. "If He has her name… He will have the power to bind her here forever."

The shink of sharp weaponry being drawn behind the King, bounced off the walls, a precursor of what was to come. Bo turned her head, to look up at Dyson and met his eyes with sorrow. "You will never have hers."

Bo steeled her reserves, as Dyson shifted and Tamsin's face grew gaunt and hollow.

The King smiled and pointed above towards the shimmering lines of power. "If that is the one you truly love, I will find her and destroy her, and your binding will be complete. "

"Your robes totally reek, mister. And there is nothing I would like better right now than to kick your ass, so BRING it." the succubus bravado brittle at the last when legions spilled into the room, hungry for their blood.

The ebony spear flung from powerful hands embedded itself in Bo's chest as she fell backwards. Black, overpowering tendrils of power sought her mind, as her heart thudded haltingly in her ears. Her companions shredded before eyes as everything turned dark.

_Lauren._

* * *

_**Present Day-**_

Kenzi was trying to shout over the wind, but the vortex was very loud. The air itself felt alive with the vibrant ferocity. Trick grabbed his coat and pulled it close as he shuffled against the current towards the pair. The thief maintained a hold on Lauren, but the pull of the current was destroying her soul. Inky blackness coated her arms as it enveloped the doctor.

Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed the one thing that he had kept on instinct, never knowing quite what he would need it for. The fear of his granddaughter was enough to have kept the artifact within his safe keeping once she had given it up to him years ago.

Without thought he pulled it from his pocket and moved Kenzi's hands to place it around Lauren's neck. Leena kept hold her the woman's feet as the gold strands of life force turned to ash and her body fell to the ground as gravity took hold.

The vortex shriveled and died… leaving a vast silence within the forested grove.

Kenzi fell back against her feet, looking up. "What the fae was that? And don't give me some mumbo jumbo shit. That was like sharknado in intensity…just. You know. Without sharks?"

Leena looked down at Lauren, who lay silent and still. Moving towards the blonde, she shifted her feet and lay hands on the woman's chest, checking for breath. Not sensing movement, she gestured for Falwyn, who gathered Lauren in her arms, searching for something.

Kenzi ran up to the fairy witch and pulled her around as the older fae looked her in the eyes. "Is she ok?" Leena look towards the nymph who held the doctor close, waiting for her answer.

Falwyn searched Lauren's face, breathing in small amounts of her chi into the blonde. "Your elder seemed to stop the flow, but her life levels are significantly diminished and barely visible. I need time with her."

Seemingly dubious, Kenzi's sharp blue eyes looked up in surprise. "Uh..what? Like quiet time?"

"Perhaps someplace more private? Positive feedback loops take time to build."

"Feathering?" Trick offered. The thief's mouth dropped open, "…is that, what I think it is?"

"Yes. I will return with her?" Leena nodded and Falwyn left the grove with Lauren, carefully treading over the ground as she carried the unconscious human.

"Ok. Stop. What the fuck are you talking about? What the fuck was that tornado? What the fae is going on?" growling Kenzi leveled her eyes at the retreating figure and looked as if to pounce.

Leena positioned her hand on the young woman's shoulder, in reassurance.

"Falwyn knows what she's doing. As does Trick. Lauren will recover."

Kenzi's rolled her eyes. "Ok, while I do NOT need nor want the 411 on succubi and nymphomatic dealings…I need some explanations. And I mean now."

Leena ignored the raven haired woman for a moment, directing her thoughts and query to Trick. "I see that time hasn't diminished the hold they have over each other."

The old barkeep covered his face with his hands briefly, certain in his conclusions. "No. Even separated, they are bonded. I have no idea how it happened, but it's done now."

The witch leaned in, putting her hands on Trick's shoulders in comfort. "Lauren is driven to find her. I fear for them both, if the boundary is breached."

Anguish covered Trick's face as he looked up at her. "Fear for us all. Bo is lost. I had terrible misgivings before, but now I am sure. He has her."

Furiously, Kenzi cut the air with her hands in front of them, frustrated by the missing information. "Woah! Woah. Slow down. What? He? He who?"

Closing his eyes tight, Trick forced the words out. "Her father."

"How? I mean. Why now? And how is Lauren connected with this?"

"It's the world of dreams and death. The realm's power runs over the earth and spills into our thoughts awake and asleep. Finvarra was banished long ago, because his power was ancient, temperate… and unmatched. When the elder gods of light left us the world of choice, His was about power and dominion. Choice was a consequence best left to weaker vessels not meant for more. For humanity. The power and destiny was with the fae. To live to their immortal potential. He values power and control above all things. "

Trick paused picking up his coat from ground, dusting it off.

"He involved himself in the great fae war and sided at first with the light. Their sense of obedience was appealing to his philosophy, until he betrayed them. His banishment came at great cost, and I know he searches for me every day…..waiting to exact his price. My blood. The inheritance it gave Bo. It's the answer to his exile."

"What about the doc?"

Trick flinched, and kept his face in shadow. "She is another story, altogether."

Turning back, he looked at the diminutive figure. Her eyes had faded into violet colors. "Kenzi… what happened to you? You smell of brimstone…and druid magic."

Gulping, setting her katana down beside her, she settled in pulling her legs up to her chest.

"Got any of that buckthorne?"

Smiling, he pulled a flask from his vest pocket.

Hesitantly, she started, stumbling over words. "It was that lying bastard, Mossimo. I screwed up." She sighed, continuing. "I didn't meet up with Lauren until three months after my change. Apparently, the world changes when you stop paying attention to it. I had no idea that she was even in danger, let alone taken by the Morrigan. I was starving. Being taken by the Dark was apparently easy. I didn't care about anything anymore. I just needed my next fix."

For a moment Kenzi got lost in her memory, flask in hand, looking out beyond them into the trees.

"It was dark," she began.


End file.
